Ms. Adams, Did you even bother to read any of the published news reports about Army Specialist Robert Loria?

I did, and I know I did not miss the part where President Bush was the Army pay clerk that made the mistake of continuing Army Specialist Robert Loria’s family separation pay. I did not miss it since President Bush is not in Army Specialist Robert Loria’s immediate pay chain-of-command. If you had read any of the news reports you would have found that Specialist Loria was paid for 10 months worth of family separation pay that he was not authorized, and that he was overpaid for travel expenses.

That means he had 10 Leave and Earning Statements and 20 paychecks, direct deposits, to look at to make sure he was getting the correct pay before he was discharged.

It’s not President Bush’s responsibility to make sure that Army Specialist Robert Loria is getting the correct pay and allowances that he is authorized, that is the responsibility of Army Specialist Robert Loria and Army Specialist Robert Loria’s alone.

I fail to see the problem with the Army wanting Specialist Loria to repay the family separation pay and the travel over-payment pay.

Army Specialist Robert Loria was overpaid and the U.S. Army wanted their money back.

Had you bothered to read news reports from various news sources dated Feb. 7, 2005, you would have read that the Army had forgiven the family separation pay overpayment, the travel pay overpayment and had also forgiven Army Specialist Robert Loria the charges for his missing gear.

Try dealing with the truth next time, not half-baked lies from MoveOn.org or democraticunderground.com, would ya please.

Joe Hawkins

Oak Harbor